Eyeglass-mounting.



J. R. VAN TASSEL.

EYEGLASS MOUNTING.

APPLIGATION FILED PEB.23, 1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE."

JOHN RU'ISON VAN TASSEL, 0F GENEVA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD OPTICAL COMPANY, OF GENEVA, NEW YORK.

EYEGLASS-MOUNTING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May '7, 1912.

Application filed February 23, 1912. Serial No. 679,491.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JOHN RUTsoN VAN TASSEL, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Geneva, in the county of Ontario and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Eyeglass-Mountings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to eyeglass-mountings of the type in which the nose-clamps are carried by swinging arms, or levers, controlled by resilient members or springs which act to force the nose-clamps int-o engagement with the nose of the wearer.

In eyeglass-mountings of the type in question springs have been employed, for controlling the noseclamps, of which the resilient portions have been in the form of a flat spiral, the spiral being connected, at one or both ends, with an arm or arms by which its torsional action is communicated to the nose-clamp and the body of the mounting, respectively.

The present invention relates particularly to eyeglass-mountings in which springs of this kind are employed, and the object. of the invention is to produce a mounting in which the spring is so formed as to avoid a cramping action in the spring-coils due to the leverage of the arm or arms above re ferred to.

To the foregoing end I employ a spring in which the extremity of the spiral portion projects beyond the point of attachment of the arm, thus providing an extended bearing portion which is adapted to engage the adjacent portion of the coil and modify the action of the arm upon the coil in such a manner as to convert its direct bending efiect into a torsional action; thereby preventing cramping of the spring at or adjacent to the point of attachment of the arm.

The invention will be more particularly described in connection with the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a bottomview of a portion of an eyeglass-mounting embodying the present invention, on an enlarged scale, showing one of the nose-clamps and the mechanism associated therewith; Fig. 2 is a bottom-view, on a larger scale, showing in detail the spring by which the nose-clamp is controlled; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the spring in upright position, looking from right to left in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a plan-view of a sheet-metal blank from which the spring is formed.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in an eyeglass mounting in which the general form and arrangement of the lens 5, the lens-clips 6, the rigid bridge 7, the bodyportion 8 connecting the lens-clips and the bridge, and the nose-clamp 9, are of familiar form. In Fig. l the nose-clamp is illustrated as partly broken away to disclose the spring more fully. The nose-clamp may be connected with the nose-clamp lever in any ordinary or suitable manner, and it is illustrated as having a lateral extension 10 of sheet-metal which is embraced within a doubled portion of the nose-clamp lever.

The nose-clamp lever 11 is in the form of a flat sheet-metal member, which is pivoted on top of the body 8 of the mounting by means of a stud 12. At its forward end it is integral with the usual finger-piece 18 by which it may be operated in removing or replacing the glasses from the nose. The spring proper comprises a coiled portion 14 of flat spiral form, which is integral with the nose-clamp lever near its inner end, and from a point near the outer end of the coiled portion 14 an arm 15 project-s, which is adapted to engage a lug or hook 16 on the body 8 of the mounting. Owing to'the location of the lug 16 on the opposite side of the pivot 12 from the nose-clamp, the torsional act-ion of the spring tends to swing the nose-clamp lever and the nose-clamp inwardly, that is, toward the left in Fig. 1.

In eyeglass-mountings of the general construction just described, as previously formed, the nose-clamp lever and the member corresponding to the arm 15 have been in the form of direct continuations of, or extensions from, the ends of the strip from which the coiled portion of the spring is formed. In the present construction, however, instead of using a continuous strip and bending it to form these arms or members, I employ a blank of the general form shown in Fig. 4, in which the arms or extensions, which form the nose-clamp lever and the arm 15, project-laterally from the edges of the portion 14 adjacent to, but at a slight distance from, the ends of the latter. In the completely formed device these projec tions are bent at right-angles to the width of the part 14, so as to project parallel to the plane of the spiral. The extremities of the strip 14 accordingly project beyond the members 11 and 15, thus forming extended bearing-portions 1 6 and 17.

Considering Figs. 1 and 2 it will be apparent that when the arm 15 and the lever 11 are swung, respectively, to the right and the left of their normal position, thus subjecting the coiled portion 1 1 to a torsional action, the immediate tendency of these members is to bend the coiled portion most sharply at their junction therewith. This action causes the bearing-members16 and 17 to engage the adjacent surfaces of the coil, and by such engagement the bending tendency is resisted without severe friction and is converted into torsional action, and the spring is thereby protected against the cramping which otherwise tends to occur at the ends of the coiled portion.

In Fig. 4 the entire length of the portion 14 of the blank is not illustrated, and it will be understood that this portion is substantially longer than shown. The portion of the blank which forms the nose-clamp lever 11 is also substantially longer than the lever in its final form, in order to provide material for the doubled or U-shaped part 18 within which the projection 10 of the nose clamp is fixed.

My invention is not limited to employment in the specific form of eyeglass-mounting illustrated, but may be embodied in various other forms within the nature of the invention, as it is defined in the following claims.

I claim 1. In an eyeglass-mounting having rela tively movable members, such as a noseclamp lever and a body upon which the lever is pivoted, a spring operatively connecting said members and comprising a resilient strip in the form of a spiral connected, ad-

jacent its ends, with said members respectively, the extremity of the coil projecting beyond the point of connection with one of said members so as to form an extended bearinganember to engage the adjacent turn of the spiral and prevent cramping of the spring.

2. An eyeglass-mounting having, in combination, two relatively-movable members such as a nose-clamp and a body-portion adapted to be connected with the lens, and means operatively connecting said members, comprising a resilient coil of fiat spiral form and an arm for connecting the coil with one of the members, said arm extending from the coil near one end thereof, and the adjacent extremity of the coil projecting beyond the point of connection with said arm so as to produce an extended bearingportion adapted to engage the adjacent portion of the spiral and prevent cramping of the spring by the bending action of the arm.

3. In an eyeglass-mounting, a combined noseelamp lever and spring comprising a strip of resilient sheet-metal in spiral form, a member extending integrally from the strip, adjacent its inner end, and constituting a nose-clamp lever, and an arm extending integrally from the edge of the strip, adjacent its outer end, and substantially parallel with the plane of the spiral; said arm being adapted to connect the spring with the body of the mounting, and the extremity of the spring-coil extending beyond the point of connection with the arm so as to form an extended bearing-member to en gage the adjacent portion of the spiral and prevent cramping of the spring by the leveraction of the arm.

JOHN RUTSON VAN TASSEL.

lVitnesses M. Gonronros, WILLIAM J. EsrEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

